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About the Photographer

Porter, Eliot

American, 1901-1990

Until he saw the photographs of Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter was a scientist and teacher. Influenced by Adams and Alfred Stieglitz, Porter decided to devote himself to photography and eventually became one of the best-known documenters of the unspoiled outdoor world and its creatures, especially birds. Spruce Trees and River, Colorado attests to Porter's profound interest in – and mastery of – the exquisite color and patterns found in the natural world.

In 1979 the work of Eliot Porter was exhibited in Intimate Landscapes, the first one-person show of color photography at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. This exhibition earned Porter praise as the individual who brought credibility to color photography as a medium of fine art. Porter developed new technical methods of photographing animals, birds, and insects. He was a scientist as well as an artist: he graduated from Harvard's School of Engineering in 1924, and from Harvard Medical School in 1929. Born in 1901 in Winnetka, Illinois, Porter died in 1990.

Porter, Eliot. Eliot Porter. Boston: Published by New York Graphic Society Books, Little, Brown, in association with the Amon Carter Museum, 1987.